This page describes how to install Open Inventor Java on Windows platform. The Java classes are cross-platform but the native runtimes must be installed for each platform.

The URL links to download Open Inventor installers are delivred by the upgrade e-mail. If you select the link: "Download Open Inventor Java", a download page is opend and you can select the desiderd package "for Windows" platform: executable (.exe) or compressed (.zip) version for 64-bit or 32-bit.

Administrator privileges are required to install the executable package Open Inventor. If you do not have administrator privileges on the machine, please use the compressed version (.zp) and set the Open Inventor environment variables, see Environment variables for details.

Toolkit installation

Open Inventor toolkit package is available as executable installer .exe or compressed .zip:

Components selection dialog
You can select to install or not the example programs or reference manual.

Installation location dialog
Setup will suggest a default location for the installation, e.g., C:\OpenInventor\9.5.0 Java x64, and allows you to select a different location if desired. We recommend using a directory name that includes the version number.
Avoid using the Windows operating systems C:\Program Files directory because it protects its contents and you will not be able to edit and build example programs.

Start Menu Folder dialog
You can choose the Windows Start Menu folder. The default is to use the same name as for the installation folder.

Install
All Open Inventor files will be installed into the selected directory. The installation procedure sets all necessary environment variable. See Environment variables for more details.

Copy License dialog
At this step, the installer asks you to locate the file containing the license strings necessary to unlock the product. You should have received this file from our licensing team. Please refer to the Licensing page for details. The environment variable OIV_LICENSE_FILE is set to the path of this file in the user's environment. The file name is usually password.dat.

Complete installation dialog: it is possible to select to run "Open inventor samples browser".

If you installed the examples, you will have all of the Java examples in the folder %OIVJHOME%\demos. To run them, open a Command Prompt and type:

cd %OIVJHOME%\demos
java inventor.mentor.examiner.Main

The examples can also be executed by using the delivered JAR files:

cd %OIVJHOME%\demos\inventor\mentor\examiner
java -jar Main.jar

A browser of all examples "Demos launcher" is delivered in the package. To run it, type:

cd %OIVJHOME%\demos
java -jar Main.jar

See below a screenshot of the application:

To run an example, double-click the item or select te auto-launch feature.

If you are not able to run examples, please check if Java Runtime Environment is installed (i.e. type java -version in Command Prompt) and if the version is compatible with the Open Inventor packages selected. If Java is not available, download the right version from the official site, install it, then re-run the Open Inventor examples.

Check the license using the property (or environment variable) OIV_LICENSE_DEBUG. If OIV_LICENSE_DEBUG is equal to 1, when starting any Java application that needs Open Inventor for Java, licensing details are printed (if OIV_LICENSE_DEBUG is equal to <Log filename>, the messages will be printed in the log file).

Environment variables

The installation package configures the environment variables OIVHOME and OIVARCH. If the compressed version is used, please follow the instructions below to set the environment.

OIVJHOME: the Open Inventor Java home installation directory.

The library path PATH: it must contain the path to the native libraries of Open Inventor Java: %OIVJHOME%\jre\bin.

OIV_LICENSE_FILE: this is necessary if the default license file %OIVJHOME%\license\password.dat is not used. This variable must contain the absolute path to the license file password.dat. Please read the Licensing page for details.

If Open Inventor Java is not installed as aJava extension, your CLASSPATH and library path must be set:

CLASSPATH must contain the path to the following JAR file:
%OIVJHOME%\jre\lib\ext\OpenInventor.jar

This file is delivered in the toolkit package and it is located in %OIVJHOME%\properties. The name of the resource file is com.openinventor.inventor.properties and it can be used to override environment variables. The file contains some comments explaining how to do this. The toolkit installation adds this path to CLASSPATH. You can modify the file and change the location but you have to set your CLASSPATH to point to it.

Each property defined in this file overrides the environment variable of the same name during the execution of your program. For instance, if a property OIVJHOME is defined, it overrides the environment variable %OIVJHOME%.

Installation as Java Extension (optional)

Open Inventor Java can be installed as a Java extension: the Open Inventor runtime files (JAR files and native shared libraries) should be copied into the JRE or JDK.
Installing the runtime files inside Java causes Open Inventor Java to be considered a standard Java extension, with the following benefits:

Open Inventor Java has privileged permission (despite Open Inventor JAR files not being signed),

Open Inventor JAR files are automatically found by the JVM, so you do not need to add them to the CLASSPATH environment variable,

the shared libraries *.dll are automatically found by the JVM, so you do not need to add them to the library path PATH.

FEI Visualization Sciences Group is the leading provider of advanced 3D visualization and analysis software tools for developers, engineers and scientists in natural resources, medical and life sciences, and engineering.